Monday, January 3

Basic Cooking Skills

I was reading one of my favorite cooking blogs, The Kitchn, when I came across a post about basic cooking skills that all beginners should know. I wanted to share this with you all and spend the next couple of days going through each technique so that you can slowly begin to add to your kitchen repertoire.

image via eoiguada.info

Bourdain’s basic argument, which has also been made elsewhere, is that every person should have the basic knowledge and skills to feed themselves a decent meal. This is knowledge that has been gradually lost with the demise of home ec classes in school and the convenience of pre-made grocery store meals.

Of course, no one really wants a return to the fussy, boring home ec classes of yore. (Yes, I’m old enough that I remember these!) So Bourdain’s idea is to make cooking cool. Or more to the point, to make not cooking decidedly un-cool. Wouldn’t it be great, he says, if in the future “it’s the kid who can’t roast a chicken who should be considered the ‘spaz.’”

But back to those basic skills. Here’s what Bourdain thinks everyone should know:

• Chopping an onion
• Making an omelet
• Roasting a chicken
• The correct way to grill and rest a steak
• Cooking vegetables to desired doneness
• Making a vinaigrette
• Shop for fresh produce
• Buying a fish, cleaning it, and making it
• Roasting meat
• Roasting and mashing potatoes
• Braising meats and vegetables
• What to do with bones (a.k.a. How to make stock)